A $19-billion class action lawsuit against Canada’s major cell phone carriers will go ahead after the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear an appeal by the companies on Thursday.

The suit revolves around system access fees or license administrationfees charged by carriers on top of regular monthly fees, the FinancialPost reports.

The court said Thursday it will not hear an appeal of lower courtrulings that declared the suit should proceed. That means the lawsuit,filed against major carriers including BCE Inc., Telus Corp. and RogersCommunications, will be heard in the lower court.

A Telus spokesman told the Post the claim is “without merit andbaseless.”

Rogers spokeswoman Leigh-Ann Popek told IT Business.ca in an email,”We appealed because we think there are compelling issues that are worthy of consideration by the Supreme Court of Canada. We’re confident this claim is unfounded and now look forward to having our day in court on the merits of this claim.”

The case has been winding its way through the legal system since 2007when it was first filed in a Saskatchewan court.